COMMERCIALS TODAY

Having spent 40 years as a copywriter at agencies in Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, I have very strong feelings about today's commercials. Most of them are pretty bad. Some are offensive. Many I don't even understand. And every now and then there is one that I like. For instance State Farm's "She Shed" commercial is beautifully cast, wonderfully filmed and always entertaining. While I'm not crazy about the entire Humira commercial featuring a young man's problems with dietary disorders, I do think the young actress is wonderful and overall the commercial is very well meaning. Not well
meaning and highly offensive are the over-the-top themed Eye-Lab spots with the super-gay and. angry optical mogul. Especially disturbing is when he seems to threaten his small dog, which is far from funny. Most pharmaceuticals are boring, especially considering their frequency and length. The dark-haired man semi-dancing through his daily chores is stupid. Though I am a fan of TD Bank, I don't care for their commercials.  And most of the ubiquitous Geico commercials are just so-so.  Like films, there was a golden age of advertising when commercials were often brilliant and memorable.. "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." and I was thrilled to be part of it. Today's art directors are more technicians than artists; copywriters more imitators than originators. And all too often there are advertisers who are just plain crude like the ad for the product I can't even recall where the young girl on hearing the product's virtues says, "Holy Shirt". That's the level of wit in many ads today.